The Life of a Child
by Hikari-san42
Summary: Parents are the only gods young infants know. They are food, drink, light, and love. One should never take the concept of parenthood lightly, because for a shot time span, you play God. A young mother must make the toughest decision of her life...


'**Ello all! I'm here with a oneshot! YAYZ! **

**This was mainly spawned off something I found in my notebook a while back. It was written when I was about 11(surprisingly well written for back then) and I knew it needed a oneshot. Of course, I didn't know what kinda oneshot, but still a oneshot just the same. **

**I actually ended up with this. I'm quite happy with it, though it doesn't end as strongly as I wanted it to, and the middle seems a bit rushed… Oh well. **

**Oh, and I'm going to update **_**The Prince, the Pauper, and the Purposeless **_**sometime**** in the near future. Hopefully. It's iffy. You can keep track of how far along I am with the next chapter on my profile page. (I hath Newsboard!) **

**Disclaimer: I no own; you no sue. **

--

_The life of a child is sacred. It's an excepted fact among many people. Children are innocent creatures who know no difference between right and wrong. When they first emerge into the world they know no fear. They are ignorant in the ways of life; blissfully ignorant of the evils that plague every person now and again. But… they also knew nothing of the good in people. _

_The only contact they have is through their parents. Parents are the only gods young infants know. They are food, drink, light, and love. One should never take the concept of parenthood lightly, because for a shot time span, you play God. _

--

The young mother sighed as she tucked a blanket around the squirming creatures in the basket resting before her. They cooed happily at the added layer, gathering safety from the extra weight.

Each stared at her with innocent trust, their different colored eyes following her as she busied herself with the house.

Quickly, she shut all the windows and drew the curtains before turning toward the fireplace. The fire had died since this morning, but she didn't bother tossing another log onto it to ward off the creeping cold. Already, the frigid temperatures licked at her feet as she walked, but it was mainly concentrated on the floor for the moment.

Catching sight of her children as they shivered despite the layers of blankets covering them, the woman grabbed the basket and heaved it onto the table. Up here, the cold was almost nonexistent as the late warmth of the fire coursed. The heat was waning though, and she knew that she'd have to add another piece of wood before long.

The toddlers resting in the basket made happy noises toward her when they finally stopped shivering and one pulled a hand free to make a reach for her.

She chuckled slightly before catching the baby's hand inside her own. It was warm and soft, not worn through the years like hers. The child giggled enthusiastically.

The three in the basket were boys, each dressed in a different color to add individuality and to help the mother tell the difference between the three. It was said that a mother should know her children, but when dealing with identical triplets, she was sure she was granted some leeway until they grew a little and she got to know them better.

The youngest (and smallest) was clad in a green shirt and his eyes were of the same shade, though a little lighter. He giggled happily when he noticed his mother's eyes on him and beamed at her, showing his baby teeth.

The eldest was lying right beside his brother and he was scowling slightly, if the expression on his face could be called a scowl. His eyes were as pure a blue as the summer sky and he used the orbs to the best of his ability, even now. After getting into trouble, the boy would stare up at his mother with those watery windows, and she would melt almost automatically. He was dressed in red, mainly because the color reminded her of his personality- fiery and excitable. Any type of new sound or smell would send him crawling across the floor to investigate.

The middle child, attempting to squirm away from the red dressed one's reach, was covered by a small blue shirt. The blue was picked for him because of his cool presence. The baby never cried and his always managed to look extremely at ease, even when extremely hot or cold. His eyes were a light gray color, reminding her of a stormy sky. The color seemed to fit him, though, and seemed to compliment the fact that his older brother's were a sky blue. They almost seemed opposites and similar at the same time.

All three played very well together, though the gray eyed and the blue eyed seemed to show a small amount of competition toward each other. In fact, it was just the other day that she found them playing tug-of-war over a blanket, yelling at each other in the gibberish they used. It seemed to be a heated debate and after about three minutes of the battle, the blue clad one let go of the blanket and stalked off. It was almost like he was attempting to be the bigger person, but was still sour about it.

But, her gray eyed son had bigger problems, she noticed. It seemed that he couldn't see properly. Almost all the time, he would run into things, the table leg, the wall, or even one of his brothers. At first, it was funny, and she'd thought he was just unsteady on his feet, but it soon became a regular occurrence and she got worried.

She ha d no idea what was wrong, but had a sinking feeling that his eyes weren't as strong as they could be, which could mean death out here in the forest. She had considered taking him into the nearby town to ask the humans for help – surely they would have a way to improve his vision? – but quickly shot that down.

She was pulled out of her thoughts as one of the fragile shudders covering the holes that passed for windows was slammed shut by a sharp gust of wind. Snow fluttered in as the wood banged around before settling on the floor and melting soon after. Outside, the sky was darkening and a small dusting of the fluffy white stuff covered the ground, but it seemed it was just beginning. A storm was blowing in, and from the looks of things, it was going to be a big one.

She had been preparing for this storm almost all winter; almost everyone had been. At first, it seemed like the season was going to pass without incident – like most of the past ones – but then more and more snow storms had been blowing in, and most of her neighbors were starting to suspect that something big was coming.

The first she had heard of the huge storm was from an unlikely source, back at the end of last winter, when she was still bulging around the middle. Papa Willie, an old coot with bad eyesight and an even worse temper, was the oldest residing in the small neighborhood. He swore up and down that the nonexistent fur on his tail could tell when a large weather 'flocculation' – that was the word he used – would be blowing in; and, just as the flower buds were blooming again, he predicted a blizzard so large that there would be 'white as far as the eye could see and the plants would all die'. This proclamation was met with stern indifference from her fellow forest dwellers, mainly because their families had been living on this plot of land for more than fifty years, and the words 'evacuation' and 'move' were not in their vocabulary.

But, as spring wore on and summer beat down on their backs, the young mother was slightly worried. She was expecting her babies at the end of the season, and was worried that they would be born into a world that they would be unable to survive in. A few weeks before she was due, she began preparing for the impossible.

People called her crazy as they saw her gathering food and claiming blankets that everyone else threw out, and for a time, she believed them. But, when she felt the small movement of the children inside her, she knew she was doing the right thing.

Looking at the sky now, she was glad she had claimed every spare blanket, and had grabbed up every thrown away berry, root, and twig. Her plan was to wait out the storm, to let it pass over her house and their life. Hopefully, she had gathered enough food to sustain herself and her little ones, but, if she hadn't…

She didn't want to think about that.

In fact she-

"Open up!" Her thoughts were interrupted again by a loud voice and she jumped slightly, almost knocking over the babies' basket. "Vinny! I know you're in there!"

The woman shook her head before moving towards the door, careful to make sure her offspring were still safely swathed within their blankets. She pulled the piece of offending wood open with one smooth movement and was nearly blown over by the wind.

_It was cold! _

Quickly, she rushed the two standing outside the door in. They scampered across the floor and towards the fire place. She couldn't tell who exactly they were, for they were wrapped tightly in scarves and jackets, but she had a guess as to their identities.

Moving with practiced grace, she tossed another log on the fire, and it sparked into life with a new vigor at the renewed energy source. Up on the table, the babies cooed as it flared, almost entranced by the colors.

One of the two newcomers threw off their scarf and smiled winningly at the mother. "About time you warmed this place up. You do realize you have infants, correct?"

Vinny rolled her eyes. "Allie, you know me better than that. I was going to fix that in a few minutes. I wasn't sure how cold it was yet. "

Allie was Vinny's best and oldest friend. A fellow chipmunk, she was shorter than Vinny by a few inches but, what she lacked in height she made up for in spunk. She glared at Vinny with a loving glance before elbowing her fellow visitor.

"Andy! **(*)** Say hello!"

Next to Allie, the newly christened 'Andy' unwrapped himself and sighed at the female's expression. "Hello." He mumbled.

Andy was Allie's brother and only remaining family. Both their parents had been lost to a fire almost five years ago, and Andy had received the brunt of the loss, being older than Allie by three years. He had been thrown into the parent mode when he himself was barely an adult.

Andy looked a lot like Allie, but with rougher features and wider eyes. But, while Allie was excitable and energetic, he had the emotional response of a rock.

"Andy," Vinny muttered back, matching his tone. "What're you doing here?" She inquired as she walked toward the table to grab a baby at random and hand him off; Allie absolutely adored the boys.

"We came to help you pack. There's no way you can stay here." Allie answered as she bounced the little one. The green-eyed boy gurgled in laughter and waved his arms around.

Vinny paused with her gray eyed son halfway out of the basket. "What? I can't go anywhere. The boys are too young to survive the journey."

Andy shook his head and offered his hands to take the child from Vinny. She smiled at him gratefully before passing him over. Andy attempted the smile at the boy, but it just ended up being a grimace as the baby started to whimper slightly. "They are also too young to survive here." He indicated the child in his arms. "Look at Simon here, he's already shivering."

He was right, Vinny thought as she bit her lip. Simon was indeed quaking slightly from the cold, even that close to the fire and clutched to the chest of the bigger male. But, that only encouraged her further.

"If he's shivering here, just imagine how they'll be out there." She waved her hand in the direction of the window.

Allie sighed before moving her burden to her other arm. "I'm sure they'll be fine. You just have to find regular shelter. As long as they stay warm enough, I believe they'll make it.

Vinny shook her head, imagines of tiny, frozen bodies coming into her mind. She shut her eyes, fighting back tears as her brain came up with more gruesome pictures. Her clutching all three boys as their breathing slowed, three shallow graves dug in the frozen ground, blue lips when they should be pink and smiling…

"No."

"Do you really think you can keep them alive here, alone without help?" That was from Andy. "The closest human settlement is over five miles. A long way on foot, especially through the snow. If you run out of food, or daresay firewood, you're sunk."

Vinny looked down at the remaining baby in the basket. He was staring at her, as if awaiting her answer. "Alvin…" She muttered as she reached down to pick him up and cradle him close. His heart beat punctured her core as she felt it on her chest, so close to her own and so, so strong and sure.

"There's a man close by. He lives five minutes past the forest line. He will surely help me if something were to go wrong."

"How do you know for sure?" Andy asked again, setting Simon on the floor as he started to squirm. "He could be a hunter. What would happen to your children then?"

Vinny shook her head once more. "They have a better chance at survival here, than out in the forest in the midst of this mess." She rocked back forth as Alvin started squirming. "If anything, I should be asking you to stay with me."

Allie stopped mid-bounce, causing the child in her arms to cry out negatively. "Sorry Theodore." She mumbled as she started back up again. "I don't think that's a good idea, Vinny. We love you, and you're like a sister to us, but we can't stay. The path's are already icing over, and it's only gonna get worse. We need to get out while we can."

Vinny shared her sight for a few seconds before looking down the child in her arms, her mind whirling around all her options.

"I need time to think. You two should go; like you said, the path's getting covered."

--

Vinny sighed before staring towards the basket with watery eyes. She blinked back the tears as she made sure that each child had what was needed. Each was wrapped in his own blanket as well as a community purple one they shared and they kicked about happily, watching their feet make small bumps.

Her decision had been made. Allie and Andy had made a good case: leaving really was her only option, but it wasn't an option for her babies.

Alvin, Simon, and Theodore were only months old, and didn't have the stamina or durability to survive the rough storm, and she didn't have the resources to take care of them – not now.

Taking one last look at her home, noting that she had everything she needed while making sure that the fire was dead and the embers completely dark, she opened the door, making sure to clutch the basket to her chest.

The cold wind hit her like a ton of bricks and she nearly stumbled. But, she managed to stay upright as the wind buffered her and the snow clouded her eyes. Quickly, so as to keep her children as warm as possible, she marched across the snow, swerving every time a surprisingly strong gust blew through.

It didn't take her long to reach the dwelling of the human man. There was a glow coming from the windows and smoke was trailing out of the chimney, only to be snatched away seconds after by the wind.

Gulping slightly to herself, she trudged up to the door quickly so she couldn't change her mind, and stared down at the children one last time.

Theodore was half-asleep, oblivious to the cold wind or inner turmoil going on around him. Vinny chuckled slightly at the dreamy look on his face, but quickly sobered up as a sharp gust whistled through a crack in the wall next to her.

Simon was staring up at her with clear eyes, and for a second, she could imagine him understanding what was going on. His gray orbs seemed to be filled with fright and acceptance. It was like he comprehended what she was about to do, even though he was slightly afraid of the life that he faced.

Alvin was squirming, almost as if wanting to leap out of the basket and play in the snow. He glared up at her for wrapping him so tightly, and she smiled wanly at her.

She sighed, done but not nearly satisfied enough, – a mother could never look at her children long enough – and gulped back a sob before humming softly under her breath. All three boys started at the familiar melody, but their eyelids drooped almost immediately. Vinny rocked the basket once or twice more before setting it on the doorstep.

Then, finally succumbing to her tears, she reached out and knocked on the door. Hard.

Quickly, so as to not be discovered, she rested a hand on each forehead, relishing in feeling their baby hair one more time, before making the hardest move she'd ever had to make.

She darted away through the snow, only half watching where she was going through her tears.

Reaching the tree line, she skidded to a stop and rushed behind a tree to make sure her children were picked up. If the man didn't come to the door within five minutes – three, she compromised with herself as soon as the thought crossed her mind – she'd go back and retrieve the basket.

But, her thoughts were for naught, because as soon as she had peeked around the trunk, the man had the door open and the basket in his hands. He read through the letter quickly before a shocked look came over his face and he turned towards the house.

Vinny, tears streaming down her cheeks, watched him go, watched him take the three most important things in her life away before turning and walking slowly towards the path that led deeper into the forest. Not far away, Allie and Andy were waiting for her.

Only one thought penetrated the deep silence her mind had delved into.

_Please, let me see them again one day… _

--

*** Andy is the only OC appearing in this oneshot. I needed someone else to do banter with. Two people, especially two very passive aggressive females (not being sexist, **_**I'm**_** female), can be really boring. **

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**There you go! Hope you liked it. Like I said, not exactly what I'd hoped for, but still, good the same. **

**Please also note that I've started the 100 Themes Challenge, but, because of the extreme size and range of this challenge, it is being posted on my deviantART account until further notice. Go check it out! (Link on the pro!)**

**Please, oh please review? **


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